


First Name Basis

by HeadLadyInquisitor



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Short One Shot, very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 10:26:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4259838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeadLadyInquisitor/pseuds/HeadLadyInquisitor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariya is starting to get used to being the Herald, but sometimes, she just wants to be herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Name Basis

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fanfiction I've posted in a very long time and the first DA fanfiction at all. It's just a (very) short little thing I wrote up on tumblr the other day. Hoping to warm up to something longer. Hope you enjoy! (Takes place not long after the start of Inquisition.)

“You know, my name is Ariya.”

Cullen jumped as his attention was yanked from the  _fascinating_  files on the table in front of him. He met the Herald’s eyes and found them watching him expectantly. “Forgive me, what did you say?” he asked, shaking his head.

A corner of her mouth twitched up. “I said my name is Ariya. Did you know?”

His brow furrowed in that increasingly familiar way. “Of course I know your name, Herald,” he replied, not hurt, but a bit surprised by the question. “Why wouldn’t I?”

She rolled her eyes and took a step closer to the table. “ _That’s_  why. You keep calling me Herald.”

“But that’s your-”

“I know that’s my title, but..” She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully, then let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know, I suppose I’ll have to get used to that, but, I _am_  still me. I guess I was just..” She cast her eyes downward, cheeks flushed, then shook her head. “No, never mind, I shouldn’t.”

“No, what is it?” He leaned both hands on the table, watching her attentively.

She hazarded a glance at him, then sighed again. “This is a lot, you know? One day I don’t even believe in Andraste and the next I’m her Herald, her Chosen One.” She paused to stare at the mark on her left hand. “I can.. accept that, I suppose. If it has to be me, it has to be me, but I want to.. I haven’t made many friends here, and I wish just one person would treat me like I’m the same as I was before. No ‘Herald’, just ‘Ariya’, the silly Dalish girl who makes inappropriate jokes all the time and  _doesn’t_  have the fate of Thedas resting on her skinny little shoulders. Just.. sometimes.” She looked up at him again, shyly, hopefully. “You know?”

A quiet smirk crossed Cullen’s face and he nodded at her. “I do, Ariya. But I do hope you understand that turnabout’s fair play.” He outstretched a hand, one eyebrow quirked in question. “Do we have a deal?”

She smiled warmly and took his offered hand. “Yes, Comman-  _Cullen_ , I’d say we have a deal.”


End file.
